How to practice safe social networking (continued)

• Be cautious about how much personal information you provide on social networking sites. The more information you post, the easier it might be for a hacker, thief, or stalker to commit a crime.

• Install a security suite (antivirus, antispyware, and firewall) that is set to update automatically.

• Use tools to manage the information you share with friends in different groups. If you’re trying to create a public persona as a blogger or expert, create an open profile or a “fan” page that encourages broad participation and limits personal information. Use your personal profile for trusted friends.

• Let a friend know if he or she posts information about you that makes you uncomfortable.

• If someone is harassing or threatening you, remove the person from your friends list, block the person, and report the incident to the site administrator.

• Make sure that your password is long, complex, and combines, letters, numerals, and symbols. Ideally, you should use a different password for every online account you have.

• Be cautious about messages you receive on social networking sites that contain links. Even links that look they come from friends can sometimes contain malware or be part of a phishing attack.

• Be aware that people you meet online might be nothing like they describe themselves, and they might not even be the gender they claim.

• Flirting with strangers online could have serious consequences. Because some people lie about who they really are, you never really know who you’re dealing with.